The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to dual modality imaging systems, and more particularly to systems and methods for utilizing magnetic resonance (MR) tracking coils to address attenuations in imaging information acquired via a non-MR modality, such as positron emission tomography (PET).
Dual modality or multi-modal imaging may be utilized to obtain the benefits or advantages of two or more imaging modalities or techniques. For example, PET imaging and MR imaging may be utilized in a dual modality imaging system. However, such dual modality imaging may provide certain drawbacks or challenges.
For example, simultaneous or concurrent PET/MR imaging may result in the placement of devices such as surface or receive coils, patient support equipment, patient positioning equipment, or the like between the patient and the PET detectors. Such objects may significantly attenuate, for example, 511 keV photons, and may contribute to significant PET image artifacts and quantitation errors. To account for the attenuation of such equipment, the position and orientation of the equipment must be known or determined. Such equipment may be invisible to standard PET and MR imaging techniques, however. This problem may be exacerbated when the equipment is movable or articulable, and thus may not be accounted for using a priori knowledge of an initial position and orientation. Further, use of fiducial markers (e.g., fiducial markers in an MR image) to identify such equipment on an image has drawbacks as well. For example, MR images provide relatively low geometric fidelity and accuracy. Further still, fiducial markers may have a negative impact on the quality of the image in which the fiducial markers appear.